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Tag Archives: Marissa Meyer

To preserve the unstable alliance between Earth and Luna, Iko decides to hunt down rogue wolf-hybrids who have been attacking both planets. As an android Iko is uniquely suited to the task. She’s also determined to do anything to help her friends Cinder and Kai heal the rift between their two planets.

Iko’s hunt takes far from Luna as she tracks the wolf packs across earth with help from other friends including Cress and Thorne. Unfortunately Iko is also saddled with an unwanted sidekick in the form of Kinney, a royal guard who has little use for Iko and androids in general.

Wires and Nerve is a new graphic novel series. It picks up shortly after the conclusion of Winter, the final book in Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles series. The graphic novel series focuses on Iko, a character who never got her own book in the prose novels. While readers might appreciate a basic knowledge of the novels, this graphic novel series can be read on its own. (I read Cinderwhen it first came out and later read recaps of the other books in the series. That combined with Iko’s narrative flashbacks was enough for me.)

Iko’s graphic novel story is surprisingly delightful. In the midst of a cross-planetary hunt for rogue wolves Iko has to grapple with what it means to be an android and how she is treated because of it. She has been erased from the Lunar Chronicle adventures largely because she is “just” an android and even some of her allies (like Kinney) question Iko’s ability to care about anything or anyone when she’s not human.

Holgate’s illustrations are in a blue and white palette that is used to great effect and compliments Meyer’s world. The writing is fast-paced with snappy narration from Iko. This volume also uses the graphic novel format effectively with panels that are well designed to create a cinematic feel to the story (check out the spread on page 197 to see what I mean). Wires and Nerve, Volume 1 is some of the best of what graphic novels have to offer. A great choice for fans of the Lunar Chronicles series as well as readers looking for a new sci-fi comic to enjoy.

Cinder is the best mechanic in New Beijing but even that distinction can’t buy her freedom. Cinder doesn’t have any of that–not when she is a Cyborg.

Legally tied to a stepmother who despises her, Cinder spends her days fixing machines at her stall and dreaming of escape. Those lofty plans are dashed when her stepsister falls suddenly and hopelessly ill. Cinder is the first person her guardian blames and the only one to be punished. Instead of the death sentence she expected, Cinder finds an unlikely source of knowledge about her murky past not to mention the improbable attentions of New Beijing’s handsome prince.

Soon Cinder finds herself in the middle of an intergalactic power struggle that could have dire consequences–especially for Cinder. The more she learns about her past, the less she understands. If Cinder can confront the truth, she might be able to do something. She just isn’t sure if it will already be too late in Cinder (2012) by Marissa Meyer.

Cinder is Meyer’s first novel. It is also the first book in the four-book Lunar Chronicles.

There are a lot of retellings of Cinderella in the world. Meyer brings a fresh eye to this popular fairy tale adding an utterly original spin to a familiar story. Filled with nods to the original story (most notably Cinder’s mechanical foot), Meyer also excellently evokes the hectic, crowded city of New Beijing.

With its futuristic, sci-fi slant, this story could have easily gotten carried away explaining the world or simply laying on too many nuances to be believed. Meyer avoids these pitfalls both creating a well-realized setting and presenting it without overwhelming readers.

Despite its obviously futuristic execution, Cinder is firmly grounded in fairy tale lore. As a result the predictability of the narrative might have been unavoidable. As it is, several things are very obvious within the first few chapters of the story. However, it is not until the last chapter than any early predictions are confirmed (or nullified as the case may be). While the story is clever and immensely entertaining, I would have loved to see Cinder come into her own earlier in the novel instead of having to wait to see much of that transformation in book two.

Cinder is ultimately a unique interpretation of a story that has already been told many times. Filled with twists and new details all its own, Cinder takes a familiar story and makes it refreshingly exciting and gripping. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Possible Pairings: Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare, Incarceron by Catherine Fisher, Princess of Thorns by Stacey Jay, Ash by Malinda Lo, Legend by Marie Lu, Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, Stealing Snow by Danielle Paige, Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch, Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi, Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, Lotus and Thorn by Sara Wilson Etienne